Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 4:44 AM ET

MEOH max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.08
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$50-20.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.15±14.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.793K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3046.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$45Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$60-4.9%27d
Fri, Dec 18$50-20.7%55d
Fri, Jan 15$55-12.8%83d
Fri, Apr 16$50-20.7%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50203550658095$7M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot502030456075901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MEOH open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5020304560759011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot203550658095158%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 25203045607590+$69K−$69K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01300.00200.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01350.00330.02-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.02400.00530.03-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.02450.00870.04-0.02-0.08
0.87-0.03500.01430.05-0.03-0.13
0.79-0.03550.02270.07-0.03-0.22
0.65-0.04600.03230.09-0.04-0.35
0.47-0.04650.03640.10-0.04-0.53
0.32-0.04700.03190.09-0.04-0.69
0.21-0.03750.02430.07-0.03-0.79
0.14-0.03800.01780.06-0.03-0.86
0.10-0.02850.01300.04-0.02-0.91
0.07-0.02900.00960.03-0.02-0.94
0.05-0.01950.00730.03-0.02-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2030456075906650
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot17.525405570851K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 4K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: MEOH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk